


What Could Have Been

by Starofwinter



Category: Bleach
Genre: Drinking & Talking, Inspired By A Softer World, M/M, Past Isshin/Ryuuken, Past Relationship(s), Regret, Stolen Moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26573101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: This is how breakups work.  I will give you back your DVDs when you give me back my twenties.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	What Could Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](https://asofterworld.com/index.php?id=675) A Softer World panel.

"You still have my DVDs, asshole," Isshin says with narrowed eyes as he sits across from Ryuuken. A half-finished bottle of incredibly strong Seireitei booze sits between them. Isshin pours a glass for him and slides it over. 

"Consider them a casualty, Kurosaki, the same way I view my youth." Ryuuken takes a cautious sip and resists the urge to spit it out. It tastes like embalming fluid. 

"You're just as pretentious as I remember." Isshin looks like he knows how much Ryuuken hates the alcohol. Smug bastard. The look falters into something more melancholic than spiteful. "It wasn't... it wasn't all bad between us, was it?" he finally asks.

Ryuuken finishes the glass, throwing it back and refusing to cough as it burns a hole in his throat. "No, it wasn't." They'd been foolish boys in puppyish love, and even if it hadn't lasted, he can still feel warmth in his chest that isn't from homebrewed liquor. He lights a cigarette and takes a long drag before he offers it to Isshin. "We were young, it never would have lasted, no matter what."

"Do you ever think about what how things would have gone if it did?" Isshin looks up at the ceiling, and Ryuuken opens a window to let the smoke out before he takes the cigarette back. 

He doesn't want to answer. He thinks of Kanae, of Uryuu, of Masaki, of the lives that have led them here. "I do," he says anyway. He does. He wonders whether they could have made it work, whether they could have been anything more than tired and bitter and grieving men they've become. 

"Me too," Isshin says, and they sit in silence for a long, long time. 


End file.
